Weather issues cut baseball short Saturday in Evansville after only four innings of play, forcing Evansville and Indiana to finish their series in Bloomington Sunday afternoon. After a come-from-behind 6-5 victory in 10 innings in Game 1, the Hoosier baseball team seemed to have the momentum heading into the finale.
The Aces quickly took this momentum away, as they jumped on freshman starting pitcher Brian Korte. In the top of the second, Evansville was able to break the game open after scoring five runs on six hits.
The Hoosiers got one run back in the bottom of the inning on a bases loaded walk by Dustin DeMuth, but the Aces never looked back as they did not trail once throughout the contest.
Cody Fick was effective for the Aces, both offensively and on the mound. At bat, Fick went 3 for 4 with two RBI including a key 2-out single in the second inning. He was just as effective on the mound, pitching 6-plus innings allowing three runs on eight hits. His ability to work the outside corner was apparent throughout the day.
The Purple Aces scored a run in both the third and seventh inning to push their lead to 7-1. When the Hoosiers came to bat in the bottom of the 7th the offense began to come alive.
Three consecutive hits by DeMuth, T.C. Knipp, and Alex Dickerson to begin the inning ended the day on the mound for Cody Fick, and he was replaced by Jake Naumann. The reliever struggled to get out of the seventh, allowing two more runs to score. He eventually settled down and threw a scoreless eighth and the Aces had put themselves in a good position to win.
Closer Adam Culiver ended the Hoosier hopes, allowing only one hit in the 9th to make it a 7-5 final score.
One of the bright spots in the Hoosier offense was the play of second baseman Micah Johnson. In the game Johnson went 3 for 4 and successfully stole four bases. Alex Dickerson was the only other Hoosier with a multi-hit game, as he added a single and a two-run double for the offense.
Indiana hosts Northern Kentucky on Tuesday and Shawnee State on Wednesday before traveling to Michigan for the first conference series of the year. Both of those games will be played at 3:05 p.m. at Sembower Field.
About the Author
